Dr. Dre Reveals That He Nearly Died From His 2021 Aneurysm

August 21, 2022

Dr. Dre has reflected on his 2021 aneurysm, explaining to the Workout The Doubt podcast that his doctors thought he would die as a result. Speaking to host Dolvett Quince, the N.W.A founder explained that although reports of his initial condition had been positive, his doctors had feared the worst, going so far as to bring his family in to say their farewells.

“I’m at Cedars-Sinai hospital and they weren’t allowing anybody to come up, meaning visitors or family or anything like that, because of COVID, but they allowed my family to come in,” he explained. “I found out later, they called them up so they could say their last goodbyes because they thought I was outta here.”

Dr. Dre has recounted the experience of his 2021 aneurysm with the Workout The Doubt podcast:

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Dre continued, “I didn’t know it was that serious, you know, and seeing my mum, and my sister, and everybody coming in the room. Nobody told me, I had no idea, that was crazy. I was in the ICU for two weeks.”

News of Dr. Dre’s aneurysm was first reported by TMZ in January 2021, with the publication writing at the time that the producer was in a “stable and lucid” condition. Eleven days later, Dr. Dre put out a statement to say he’d been released from hospital, reporting that he was “doing great and getting excellent care from my medical team.”

However, as Dre explains in the podcast, he spent more time in hospital than first indicated, with much of his experience consisting of constant tests from doctors. “Because of what was going on in my brain, they had to wake me up every hour on the hour for two weeks to do these tests,” he said. “Basically looking like sobriety tests, like touch your nose, rub your heel on your calf and all that shit.”

Elsewhere in his Workout The Doubt appearance, Dre revealed that he had recorded more than 247 songs throughout the pandemic, and noted that he’s in the process of producing a Marvin Gaye biopic, having been working on it for “the last four to five years.”